Preseason training kicks off Tuesday

January 19, 200812:00 AM PST

Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced today that the Whitecaps men’s team will kick off the 2008 preseason training program with new head coach, Teitur Thordarson, on Tuesday, January 22.
For the next three weeks, they will have morning strength and conditioning sessions on Mondays and Thursdays at Burnaby 8 Rinks and morning training sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays at Simon Fraser University.
On February 11, the team will increase the number of training sessions to five days a week, Monday through Friday, plus a training match on Saturday. At this time, training will be comprised mostly of locally based players, as well as a select number of members from the Whitecaps Residency program and players on trial. The Whitecaps training camp will open on Monday, March 3.
The Whitecaps open the 2008 regular season at Swangard Stadium in an all-Canadian tilt versus the Montreal Impact on April 12. Season tickets are on sale now and start at $199. All season tickets include a bonus ticket to this year’s international friendly. For more information, CLICK HERE or call the Whitecaps office at 604.669.WAVE (9283).
Two Whitecaps selected to the Canadian men’s national team camp
The Whitecaps, in conjunction with the Canadian Soccer Association, also announced today that defender Adrian Cann and midfielder Martin Nash have been selected to the Canadian men’s national team’s first training camp of the 2008 season.
Cann, 27, is a four-year veteran of the United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1), having played the last two seasons with the Whitecaps. During his time in Vancouver, Cann has become a force on the backline and last year, he led the team in minutes played with 2,253. This is the first time that the native of Thornhill, Ontario, has been called up to the senior national team; during the 2001 Francophone games in Ottawa, Ontario, Cann earned two starts for the U-23 Olympic Team.
Nash, 32, is an eleven-year veteran of USL-1, having played seven seasons in Vancouver. The midfielder, who was born in Regina, Saskatchewan but raised in Victoria, British Columbia, made his international debut in April 1997 against El Salvador. Nash has earned 37 international caps for his country, having last represented Canada during last summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup finals in the United States.
The 11-day training camp will open this Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The team will then travel to St. Lucia to play their first international friendly of the 2008 season on February 2.